How Ricky Sold His Family's Inherited Lithonia House With 13 Heirs on Title

From our files: when Ricky first reached out to us, he was trying to do right by his whole family. The small house in Lithonia had been in the family for a long time, and it had passed down through more than one generation without the paperwork ever catching up. Ricky was the executor of the family estate and wanted to sell, but he could not sell it on his own.

When the title search came back, the house was in the names of several family members, and two of them had already passed away. That meant their estates had to be accounted for too. By the time everything was traced, 13 people needed to sign off on the sale, some in Georgia and at least one out of state.

Why heirs property is so hard to sell in Lithonia

Older neighborhoods around Lithonia have plenty of family homes that were never formally passed down. When a parent dies without the estate being probated, the house often ends up owned by every heir together. Nobody can sell it alone, a lender will not touch it, and a regular buyer will walk away the moment title shows a dozen owners.

Georgia does give families a path. The Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act lets a co-owner ask the court to sort out who owns what, with an appraisal and, if needed, a supervised sale. It works, but it takes time, an attorney, and patience. Most buyers are not willing to wait through that.

Ricky's house had a second problem: condition. The crawlspace had improper support, the interior needed to be gutted, the roof, soffit and fascia needed replacing, the siding was damaged, and there was no heating and cooling system at all. On top of that, a small rear lot that the family also owned ran under part of the house, so it had to be part of the sale.

How we solved it, one piece at a time

• We ordered the title work up front and mapped out every owner and every estate, so the family knew exactly whose signatures were needed.
• We gathered the probate documents for the two family members who had passed and got them to the closing attorney and the title company.
• Ricky and another relative went family member by family member, and within about two months every signature but one was in.
• When not every owner could sign, we extended our contract again and again instead of walking away, and we brought in a real estate attorney to explain the family's options under Georgia law.
• We kept checking in with Ricky for months, made him a fresh offer when he was ready, and promised to help with the legal side of clearing title.
• Once the family's attorney took the court route for heirs property, we moved the closing to that attorney's office so the court process and the closing could happen together.
• We added the rear lot to the sale at no extra cost, so the house and the land under it went to the new owner in one clean deed.
• We bought it as-is. No repairs, no HVAC install, no cleanup.

More than three years, and it closed

This one took patience. Our original contract was extended more times than we can count, and there were stretches where it looked like the house would never sell. But we told Ricky we would see it through, and we did. At closing, every heir's deed and every affidavit was recorded, the family was reimbursed for the probate and appraisal costs they had paid along the way, and the proceeds went out to the heirs.

Most of all, Ricky finally got to close this chapter for his family without anyone having to pay for repairs on a home that needed everything.

Thank you for your patience and your trust, Ricky. You never gave up on getting this done for your family, and neither did we.

Own an inherited house in Lithonia with more than one owner?

If you inherited a house and the title is in several family members' names, or a parent passed without a will, you are not stuck. We buy inherited and heirs property homes in Lithonia and across Georgia, as-is, and we work with the family and the attorneys until it closes. See how our process works, read our common questions, or see what other Georgia homeowners say about us.